Kickstart: Tariffs expected to add to hospital bills

Some hospitals monitoring tariffs from President Donald Trump are raising concerns about supply shortages and higher costs for medical devices, personal protective equipment, surgical tools and testing equipment.

Providence, a nonprofit health care network in the western U.S. with 51 hospitals, says it expects its costs to rise by as much as $25 million per year from the initial set of tariffs, our sister paper Modern Healthcare reports.

A recent survey by Black Book Research found that 88 percent of the responding health care executives are expecting at least an 18 percent increase in costs in 2025. Seventy-five percent of those executives also said they intend to pass higher costs on to patients and other payers. Some nonprofit organizations, however, said they cannot pass forward their costs, so they will likely need to cut back on some services.

Black Book said a third of its survey respondents are prioritizing domestic suppliers, but 94 percent are worried that those companies cannot meet regulatory hurdles in a timely manner. Only 12 percent of those surveyed said they can completely shift their supply chains by the end of 2025 without disruptions.

Groups including the American Hospital Association are pushing for exemptions for imports of vital medical supplies, Modern Healthcare wrote.

Plastics News reporter Sarah Kominek is following the topic. Feel free to reach out to Sarah to share your perspective. 

More than 14,000 people attended the Plastics Recycling Show Europe in Amsterdam April 1-2, but if you weren't one of them — or didn't get a chance to see everything — then our friends at Sustainable Plastics are here to help fill you in on some of the big topics.

In addition to print stories that will be coming from the event, SP Editor Karen Laird and Associate Editor Beatriz Santos videotaped more than a dozen interviews with top executives in the industry, and those are available now at sustainableplastics.com.

For one example, Alberto Piovesan, plastics segment leader for recycling equipment maker Tomra, talked about how the company is using artificial intelligence to sort material.

"We've definitely proven that it works," he said. "It works on a large scale, and it can be taught new things."

Its AI successfully sorts materials approved for food packaging from nonfood plastics in both PET and polyolefins with a 95 percent purity rate, the level required for recycled plastics for food applications.

Toy maker Mattel Inc., which has marketed dolls in its Barbie line with different body shapes, skin colors, hair textures and levels of physical ability, may be quieting some of its discussions on diversity, equity and inclusion.

While the California-based company hasn't publicly announced a change, Bloomberg Law noted that paperwork submitted in advance of Mattel's annual meeting in May reduces the emphasis on diversity.

In 2024, the company stated: "Our aim is to contribute to a more diverse, equitable, inclusive and sustainable future." In 2025, Mattel has been less specific, noting it is "committed to fostering a culture where all employees have an opportunity realize their full potential."